The City of Friendly Folks

Arrest Made in Homicide

Jonathan Conrad Dawkins, 31, of 2322 Eleanor Street in Newberry has been charged with murder and possession of a weapon during a violent crime for a homicide that took place on Monday, January 7, 2019.

Dawkins was taken into custody on Friday, January 11 without incident by the Newberry Police Department, Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED).

Officers responded to 616 Glenn Street (All Auto) on Monday in reference to a shooting incident at 1:33 p.m.

Once on scene, officers found a victim who had suffered a gunshot wound. He was transported by ambulance to Palmetto Health Baptist Parkridge in Columbia. The medical team worked to stabilize the victim, however those efforts were not successful.

Investigators with the Newberry Police Department, Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and SLED worked throughout the week interviewing witnesses and gathering evidence in the case.

Police Chief Roy McClurkin said the arrest of Dawkins was great work by investigators from his department as well as the Newberry County Sheriff’s Office and SLED, working long hours and following up on leads to develop a suspect and get him into custody.

“I want to thank the public also for their help,” he said. “The victim was a law-abiding citizen who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. As a result of a cowardly act, a life was lost and now a family is suffering.”

McClurkin said they would not put up with this gun violence in the community any longer.

“We will continue to work together to put an end to it,” he said.

In agreement with McClurkin, Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster said the nonsense was going to stop.

“This is such a tragedy,” Foster said. “An irresponsible act took the life of a person that was minding his own business and was in no way involved in this incident.”

Foster said they would be conducting further investigations and would bring more people to jail and then justice.